Selachophobia & Swims
by Tor Raptor
Summary: Ally chose to stay with the Raptors. Now, with the Raptors preparing to migrate to Cuba, Austin, Dez, and Trish realize they may never see her again if she doesn't change her mind about staying. To make matters worse, a deep-rooted fear of sharks is making its way to the surface in Austin, and his sanity is at stake. (sequel to Disappearances & Dread)
1. Chapter 1

**I'm back with another! Here's my newest story, Selachophobia & Swims! Listen, if you read Disappearances & Dread without first reading Sharks & Shocks (which I suggested against, but you could have if you wanted to), then now is the time to go back and read that story. The plot of this story and the plot of Sharks & Shocks are very closely intertwined, this story has its base in Sharks & Shocks. If you haven't read it, go back and do that before proceeding with this story because it will make so much more sense (and it's a pretty good story).**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Austin & Ally**

Chapter 1:

The Raptors sat around the campfire, eating what appeared to be wild cherries and plums.

"We're so glad you decided to stay with us, Kestrel," Osprey said.

"Yeah, I can't believe you chose us over your boyfriend," Kite added.

"He's not my boyfriend," Kestrel said.

"Then he must be a really close friend to come back for you and the others after the bone arrow incident," Buzzard said.

"He's always been loyal," Kestrel explained, "I wouldn't be surprised if he sacrificed himself to save his friends."

"From what Falcon told me a day or two ago, you risked your life to save his," Kite said.

"What are you talking about?" Kestrel asked.

"He told me that you dove into the ocean to save that Austin kid from a bull shark that had ripped his calf open."

"A bull shark!" Osprey exclaimed, "Those are the worst kind! You went into water filled with blood, which attracts sharks, with a bull shark that had recently attacked your friend! Wow, that takes heart. That's what we look for here at Raptor, courage and unchallengeable loyalty."

"I just had one of those adrenaline moments," Kestrel said.

"Like when you saved me from that alligator?"

"Yeah, kinda like that."

"Well, personally, I'll be glad to have such a fierce protector with us on our journey," Buzzard commented.

"What journey?" Kestrel questioned.

"We often sail to Cuba," Osprey explained.

"That's where the rest of our arm- I mean – family lives," Kite added.

"Yeah, our family lives in Cuba," Osprey said, glaring at Kite for his slip of the tongue.

"So, don't we need to prepare for a ninety-mile boat trip?" Kestrel asked.

"Of course, we need to gather food, water, and other supplies," Buzzard said.

"Where's the boat?" Kestrel questioned.

"Captain Condor's bringing it down from a bit farther north, where we dock it."

"Can I hunt for food?"

"Sure, I'll follow you out in a minute, I need to discuss something with my brothers before you go," Osprey said. "Kite and Buzzard will work on gathering plants."

"Let's get started," Kestrel said excitedly, grabbing a bow and quiver of arrows from the supply pile.

"What do we need to discuss Osprey?" Buzzard inquired.

"Kite's slip of the tongue," Osprey answered.

"It was a simple mistake, I'm not used to having to oppress the facts," Kite defended.

"I'm not mad, I just need to make sure that we're all clear on one thing, we're not telling Kestrel where we're really going, or why we're going. Are we clear?"

"Why not? Doesn't she deserve to know the truth?" Kite said.

"Eventually. For now, we need to keep her thinking that we're really going to Cuba to visit family."

"Won't she notice that we're going in the wrong direction once we set sail?" Buzzard asked.

"Maybe, if she does, just say we're following a current. We'll tell her when we and Captain agree that she's ready. She still might change her mind and we can't let her leave with our secrets," Osprey explained. "Nobody tells her anything about our true destination, clear?"

"Yes, we're clear," Kite and Buzzard replied.

"Good, now go do your jobs."

**So, what are the Raptors keeping from Ally? Did you notice how her dialogue is officially Kestrel instead of Ally? Anybody have any ideas on where they're really going and why? If you think you have a decent answer, leave it in a review and I might tell you if you're correct. I'll be truly surprised if any of you can guess, as it's a very elaborate scheme that's going on here. I'm going to give you the same hint that I gave in Disappearances & Dread, "The Raptors power extends far beyond Captain Condor and his kids"**

**Anybody who can decipher that will win a shout-out and my admiration, good luck! Also, I'm still offering the opportunity for you to ask questions directly to the characters. If you don't quite understand the meaning of this, I'll put it in other words: "Pretend that I have Kite, Osprey, and Buzzard sitting next to me as I read the reviews. You can ask them a question, and I'll answer it as if it were them actually answering from their own mind."**

**Until next chapter, please read and review! Don't be afraid to ask questions to me, or any of the Raptors, we'll be glad to answer and possibly provide hints to the future of this series!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here is chapter 2 of Selachophobia & Swims, I hope you guys like it! This is probably the most emotional chapter in the entire story, some of this stuff is pretty deep. You guys finally get to find out some of the stuff that happened during Sharks & Shocks, the things I didn't cover such as Dez's and Ausitn's emotions during the whole ordeal. Enjoy!**

Chapter 2:

Austin, Dez, and Trish sat around the table in the hotel room, picking at their breakfasts with minimal interest. They weren't in much of a mood to eat, and bites of food teaching mouths were few and far between.

"So, what do we do while we wait to see if Ally changes her mind?" Austin asked.

"I told you yesterday, you need serious help," Dez stated.

"Dez, I think that's a bit of a touchy subject after everything and last night," Trish said. She clearly didn't want to be caught in the crossfire of another heated argument between the two boys.

"But I can't stand to see him so uncomfortable whenever I mention teeth, jaws, or sharks!" Dez yelled.

"Dez, I'm perfectly fine. I'm not uncomfortable at all when you bring up shar- you know," Austin said, his voice wavering a little with nervousness.

"See! You're so afraid, you can't even bring yourself to say the word shark!" Dez screamed, his face turning red with anger.

"Dez, this isn't a good idea," Trish said, attempting to calm the furious redhead.

"Austin, I can't stand to see you so scared. You can't walk into the living room without yelping at the sight of the shark jaws!"

"You would be afraid too, if jaws just like those had tried to kill you!" Austin yelled, the volume of his voice now matching Dez's, "They just sliced through me like I was a chew toy! Have you ever been a chew toy Dez?!"

"No, I haven't been a human chew toy. But when a dog plays with a chew toy, the chew toy doesn't jump at the word dog!"

"Okay, maybe that was a bad example. A chew toy doesn't have feelings, a chew toy can't feel pain! A chew toy can easily be sewn up, it still functions properly if it's ripped! When a chew toy is broken, it doesn't have to sit around all day being bored to death!"

"I told you not to toy around with mentions of death!"

"And I told you that it shouldn't matter to you! I was the one who nearly died!"

"You see, that's where you're wrong. It does matter to me," Dez said, his tone changing form one of anger, to one of sadness and despair.

At that point, Trish decided to bow out of the conversation, taking her breakfast plate and moving to sit at the counter.

"Why does my near-death matter so much to you Dez?" Austin asked.

"Because you're my best friend. Without you, I wouldn't know what to do with myself. You don't know this, but your parents and I wept in the waiting room for three hours. And after nine o'clock, when they finally finished and brought you back, I cried by your bedside, just hoping that the next time I stood by your side wouldn't be at your funeral. I was terrified for you, it was awful. But it became worse the second you woke up," Dez explained.

"How is that worse? I wasn't dead if I was conscious, far from it."

"Every time you woke up, the first thing out of your mouth was always this awful moan. I couldn't tell if you were in pain, or angry at the situation."

"I think I remember why, but I'm not one hundred percent sure. Sure I was in pain sometimes, it was actually pretty miserable, and I was upset with the whole situation. But the main reason I always moaned was because every time I ever woke up, the first thing I saw was you."

"Well, that makes me feel so much better. You just hated me."

"You didn't let me finish. Even when my own parents weren't there, you always were to welcome me back to consciousness. I wanted to tell you that I didn't want to waste your time, that you didn't need to be there for me every second. You always beat me to start the conversation, I never found the right time. You constantly offered my stuff, or do anything to make me more comfortable."

"You said no to everything I ever offered you."

"Honestly, I could have killed for a glass of water every time you asked, but I felt like I was already being enough trouble."

"I would have gladly gotten you anything you wanted. I figured, I had two good legs and you only had one, so I might as well help you out. Plus, I was there whenever you woke up just because I wanted to spend time with you while you were awake. The times when you were away in surgery, those were the worst. Especially the one right after the incident."

"Why?"

"Every time you went back, all I could think about was that they'd find something and have to amputate. Every time they brought you back, I could finally breathe when I saw two feet instead of just one. And whenever you were away and a nurse came into the room for whatever reason, I was on the verge of a panic attack because I thought she was here to tell us that you'd left."

"What do you mean, left?"

"I was terrified that you would die while they operated. I liked it better when I was by your side, so I could at least be with you to say goodbye."

"Dez, you know I would never leave you."

"No Austin, I don't know that. Because for a while it was very possible that you would leave me!" Dez yelled, on the verge of tears.

"Dez, I had no idea you were so scared."

"I tried to hide it from you. If I were terrified, you might have given up."

"Dez, I could've helped you, if you'd told me."

"I didn't want to tell you, you were being so strong. I didn't want my weakness to weaken you."

"Dez, you weren't weak. It's perfectly normal to be afraid."

"Then why weren't you afraid?"

At this, Austin laughed, "Who says I wasn't? What you don't know is that whenever I went back and they tried to put me to sleep again, I tried to fight the mask with everything I had. I was terrified that if I let them put me to sleep, I would wake up and be missing a leg, or not wake up at all. I probably delayed the healing process with all my thrashing."

"Austin, I had no idea."

"They had the most muscular men available back there to hold me down. I nearly broke one of their arms in my panic. I would beg the doctors to stop, to not make me sleep. They always assured me that I'd be fine. The anesthesiologist said that I fought him more than any other patient he'd ever had. My biggest scare was when one of the doctors, I forget which, said that I had good reason to fight. That time, I thought for sure I'd wake up and be missing a limb. But I wasn't missing a leg when I woke up, instead I found that the seemingly endless stream of bandages had spread to my right leg like some sort of virus."

"Huh?"

"It's a long story that I don't feel like telling you now."

"If you had told me, I could have helped you and assured you that you'd be fine."

"I thought that if I showed my weakness, you' worry for me too much."

"It looks like you guys had the exact same problem, form different sides of the situation," Trish said form the counter, finally deciding to rejoin the conversation.

"Wait, you heard all of this?" Austin asked.

"Yes, I was only right here the whole time."

"Anything to add?"

"Austin, you need to confide in your friend when you worry about dying. Dez, you need to confide in your friend when you worry about him dying."

"Well, it's all over now. Nobody died. I'm going to the living room, all this talk about amputation and death is making me hurt."

Austin rose from the table and walked into the living room, then let out a terrified scream.

**Cliffhanger! So, this chapter was pretty deep, huh? How many of you were wondering what had actually happened during the gap in Sharks & Shocks? I know I would be wondering if I were in your position. But I'm the author, so I get exclusive sneak-peeks in all my stories! This story mainly focuses on Austin and Dez and the fear of sharks (hence the name, Selachophobia & Swims), but it still has some Raptors in it. If the Raptors are your favorite part of my stories (they're my favorite part), don't worry. There is a lot more Raptors to come in my next story, (I won't reveal the title until the end of this story, as it would provide spoilers) Long live Camp Raptor! **

**Until next chapter, please read and review, I appreciate every review I get whether negative or positive, even negative reviews mean people take the time to read my stories!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for leaving you guys with such a cliffhanger last time (not really, cliffhangers are some of the most fun elements of writing) and I hope this chapter was worth the wait! Enjoy!**

Chapter 3:

"Austin, is everything okay?" Trish asked concernedly.

"I'm fine, just a little flashback or something," Austin responded.

"A flashback to what?" Dez asked.

"Nothing, I'm fine."

"Something tells me that you're not fine."

"What would that something be?"

"The fact that you screamed at nothing."

"I didn't scream at nothing, I screamed at the shar- Nevermind!"

"Shark jaws?"

"Yeah," Austin replied solemnly, returning to the kitchen with a forlorn expression on his face.

"Austin, let me help you. You obviously need guidance to overcome your selachophobia."

"I don't have selachophobia!"

"Oh my gosh, there's a bull shark out there in the river!" Dez exclaimed, looking out the window in shock. At this, Austin began to have a fully-fledged panic attack. His pupils dilated and he rapidly paced the room uneasily.

"Gator said it was too marshy! They're out to get me, the whole species is out to get me!" Austin yelled.

"Nevermind, it was just an overturned lily pad," Dez said.

"You-you lied about a thing like that!" Austin said, ceasing his frantic pacing.

"I needed to prove to you that you do indeed have selachophobia," Dez explained, "Now do you believe it?"

"Maybe a little."

"Not just a little, I think this is one of the worst cases of selachophobia in existence."

~0~

Kestrel sat by the fire, expertly skinning a large pile of rabbits and placing the meat in a cloth napkin. Osprey, Kite, and Buzzard sat in a triangle near their tents, deep in conversation.

"I have a gut feeling that that blonde kid won't just sit back and watch while we leave for the Isle of Rapere," Buzzard said.

"What do you suggest we do?" Kite asked, "We've never lost all three members of a training group before. Besides, Kestrel is amazing, she'd be a great addition to our team."

"The redhead told me that the blonde kid had a bad experience with sharks, and is likely afraid of them," Buzzard explained.

"We could use that to our advantage," Osprey suggested.

"How do you propose we do that?" Kite questioned.

"One word, chum. Lots and lots of chum."

"That's genius! When we leave, we chum the water to attract sharks," Buzzard said.

"If that kid wants his girlfriend back, he'll have to swim through shark-infested waters and get covered in shark food in the process. He'd have to be suicidal to do that!" Osprey said.

"Let's go fishing!" Buzzard suggested excitedly.

"Hey Kestrel, how are you at fishing?" Osprey asked.

"I don't know, I've never tried it before. But I'm sure I could learn if you guys taught me," Kestrel replied, still working on her large pile of rabbits.

"Great! We'll need lots of fish to chum the water when we leave!"

"Wait, why do we need chum?"

"Never mind the reason, we just need a lot of fish!"

"Okay, let's go fishing!"

**Sorry, that was a bit short, but now we have a general idea of the Raptors' plan for their escape to the Isle. If you guys are wondering about this mysterious Isle of Rapere that the Raptors are going to (yes, that's the real destination instead of Cuba), well then it's with a heavy heart I say you won't find out until my next story. But you will eventually find out! If you stick with me through all four stories, all your questions will be answered! If they aren't answered within the chapters, feel free to ask them in a review! And I'm still taking questions directed at Osprey, Buzzard, and Kite if you are dying to find out what they're thinking during these events. Until next chapter, please read and review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm back with chapter 4, I hope you guys like it! This chapter focuses entirely on selachophobia, and has some minor Dez humor woven into it.**

Chapter 4:

Austin and Dez were in the living room, Dez stood in front of a whiteboard and Austin sat on the couch across from him.

"Now, tell me Ausitn, why do you fear sharks?" Dez asked, pretending to be a psychologist.

"Let's see, well, I almost died because of one!" Austin retorted. Dez turned around and wrote 'near-death' on the whiteboard.

"Anything else?" he asked, recapping the marker.

"No, I'm pretty sure near-death is enough to make you afraid of anything."

"So this selachophobia stems from thanatophobia," Dez inquired.

"What the heck does that mean?"

"Thanatophobia is the fear of dying. And from what you told me this morning, at the time you had pretty severe cases of apotemnophobia, tomophobia, and somniphobia."

"Where did you learn all these phobias?"

"When I got the shark trivia book, I also got the Big Book of Fears."

"Well, can you tell me what they mean?"

"Apotemnophobia is the fear of amputation, tomophobia is the fear of surgery, and somniphobia is the fear of sleep," Dez explained.

"I guess I had those fears at the time, but not so much right now. But how does this help?"

"It helps me find the root of the fear."

"And how does the root of the fear help me overcome it?"

"I don't know, but I think it helps somehow."

"Are you really qualified to do this?"

"You don't need qualifications to help your best friend overcome his fears. Remember the umbrella incident?"

"Yeah, but that was different. I just didn't want to be embarrassed, I didn't almost die because of umbrellas."

"Maybe we just need to overcome this the same way you did last time. How did you do it last time? You just kinda suddenly became fearless."

"It was Ally who helped me. But she's not here now, so that's out of the question."

"Austin, you don't need Ally to overcome your fears."

"Maybe I don't need to overcome this fear at all!" Austin shouted, rising from the sofa out of sheer anger.

"You at least need to get to a point where you don't panic at the word shark."

At that, Austin panicked, pacing frantically across the room.

"Shark, where?! Not again! The whole species is out to get me!"

Dez buried his face in his hands, sighing, "This is irrational."

"This is perfectly rational!" Austin screamed, still pacing frantically, "We just had a huge confession session about how scared we both were!"

"Yes, I feared for you after you were hurt. But I wasn't afraid that you were going to get hurt that afternoon at the beach when you went surfing. Neither did you, you went into the water without hesitation!"

"Look where that lack of hesitation got me! I nearly died!"

"There are very few shark attacks every year. Just take precautions when you go into the water."

"Like I'm ever going into the ocean again."

"You can't possibly be so afraid that you won't go into the water."

"I can to."

"I give up, you need professional help." Dez left the room, grabbing his cell phone from the counter. He picked it up, dialing a number and then waiting for an answer.

"Hello?" the person on the phone asked.

"Hi, may I speak with Dr. Brown?" Dez asked.

"One minute," the phone answered. Dez patiently waited for about a minute.

"Is this Dr. Brown?" he asked.

"Yes, may I help you?" she replied.

"Do you remember Austin Moon?"

"How could I forget?! He's a name all over this hospital now!"

"For what?"

"Someone who fights."

"Really?"

"No one has come close to matching his fight though. How he managed to do it in his condition is a medical miracle. It doesn't seem possible that anyone could fight that hark, especially in a weakened state from blood loss."

"Terror can do amazing things."

"I know, I felt so bad for him. His fears were all very possible outcomes. I almost felt like I was lying telling him that he'd definitely be fine."

"Wow. Anyway, I called to ask for advice. Austin's having a little trouble recovering mentally."

"Nightmare flashbacks? Those are possible among trauma victims."

"No, but I think he flashed back during the day when he saw the shark jaw display."

"Why would you have a shark jaw display?! That's horrible for his mental health!"

"It's not ours, we're at a hotel near the Everglades."

"Well, hide it form him! If he keeps being reminded, he'll never mentally recover!"

"Okay, anything else?"

"Just let him be, it'll take time. Don't rush him. It's perfectly reasonable for him to be afraid."

"Is it reasonable for him to freak out when someone just says the work shark?"

"Well, not really."

"Okay, but thank you Dr. Brown. Goodbye."

"You're welcome, bye."

Dez hung up the phone, returning to the living room.

"Who was that?" Austin asked, finally finished with his frantic pacing.

"Oh, nobody," Dez replied.

"It's getting late, I'm going to bed," Austin said, heading toward the hallway with the bedrooms in it.

"Me too, I'm exhausted." Dez followed him and they parted at their doorways, exhausted from their emotional roller coaster of a day.

**Next chapter will be almost 100% flashback in the form of a dream! I'm really excited to share it with you guys, and I hope you are excited to read it. It encompasses a few things involving the missing chunks of time in Sharks & Shocks, mostly what happens before and during the battle of the anesthesia mask that Austin described to Dez in chapter 2, with and Austin's-eye-view of the shark attack itself! Until then, please read and review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**The content of this chapter, and the chapter after it, are probably the only things making this story a K+ instead of K. I actually may have under-rated it a little bit, so brace yourselves. This is where we learn, what happened during the chunk of time is skipped in Sharks & Shocks! It may be slightly disturbing, but it's not too bad. If you're ten years old or more, you should be fine.**

Chapter 5:

After nearly an hour of lying awake, Austin had finally managed to fall asleep. He was hoping for a peaceful sleep, a break from the current stress of his life. What he got was far from it as he was plagued by a dreadful nightmare. But, unfortunately, this was no ordinary nightmare, Austin knew, the events in this horrible dream were all sickeningly real. This nightmare was a flashback to the recent past, a time filled with pain, despair, and depression.

_Austin sat on his surfboard, right leg tucked up on the board by his side, left leg dangling in the murky water. The water was extremely calm, not a single wave in sight. Suddenly, Austin heard Ally's frantic screams from on shore._

_ "Austin, it's headed right for you!" she screamed, sprinting from their spot on the beach toward the surf. It was at that moment Austin felt something heavy ram him in the leg. He turned around, and saw nothing until he felt a tremendous force yank him from his board by the leg. Before he knew it, he was beneath the surface of the murky water. He wasn't sure what, but something had him by the calf, and it wasn't letting go. At this point, he could hear Ally on the brink of hysteria, screaming her head off and ignoring all logical thoughts. As he saw her swimming toward him, black spots began to dance across his vision, and he noticed the blood-red hue of the water around him. He felt a sense of relief as two good things happened; Ally reached him and had begun dragging him back onto the board, and he felt the huge force on is calf release, whatever it was had finally given up. By now, the black dots were advancing and, as Ally had him on the surfboard, he let the darkness consume him, and he slipped from consciousness and into a dreamless sleep._

_When he finally awoke, he found himself in a hospital room, and he squinted in the bright light. He saw Dez standing at the foot of the bed, and moaned. He really wasn't sure why, but the sight of Dez had made him upset._

_ "Hey Austin, nice to see you awake. How're you doing?" Dez asked._

_ "Huh? Where are we?" Austin questioned, glancing around the room in confusion._

_ "We're in the hospital," Dez answered._

_ "Why?"_

_ "You don't remember?"_

_ "Well, I was out surfing and something grabbed me by the calf. It hit me right here," Austin said, reaching his hand toward his calf. Through the sheet and thick layer of bandages it felt like, nothing. There was nothing there, no skin, no muscle, nothing that should have been there. Austin adjusted his grip to cup the bandages from underneath and found that his entire calf was missing._

"_Dez, my entire calf is gone!" Austin exclaimed, sitting up and attempting to stand._

_ "Oh no buddy," Dez said, placing Austin's shoulders back against the pillows, "the doctors said that you cannot leave this bed."_

_ "Why?"_

_ "As you said, your entire calf is missing."_

_ "What happened?"_

_ "You were attacked by a shark."_

_ "And I survived?"_

_ "Gee I don't know, do you think you're dead?"_

_ "No."_

_ "Then yes, you did survive, but barely. You were in surgery for four and a half hours. Then you went into shock, and were in surgery for another two hours."_

_ "Really?"_

_ "Yeah, it was really scary for us. But for you it was probably nothing, since you slept through the whole thing. You should have woken up, it was a really dramatic experience, like one of those hospital shows."_

_ "Don't you think I would have woken up if I could've?" Austin asked, as Dr. Brown entered the room quietly, causing them to cease their conversation. _

_ "Dr. Brown, he finally woke up," Dez said._

_ "Why didn't' you tell me sooner?" Dr. Brown said frantically, rushing over to check Austin's vital signs._

_ "He woke up literally less than a minute ago, I didn't have time."_

_ "I'm fine, get off of me," Austin complained, shaking off the concerned Dr. Brown, who was checking his pulse and respiratory rate._

_ "Don't shake me off young man," Dr. Brown scolded, "You're currently in a critical state, you might go into shock again at any moment if we're not careful."_

_ "Sorry. Wait, who are you?" Austin asked._

_ "I'm Dr. Brown, head of trauma. If it weren't for me and my team, You'd probably be dead."_

_ "Um, thank you?" Austin said, unsure of how to respond to a comment like that._

_ "Now listen, the surgeon recommended we bring you back soon so he can fix up what's left of your calf some more," Dr. Brown explained, "They'll be here any second to take you back."_

_Mike and Mimi burst into the room, almost smashing Dr. Brown with the room door._

_ "Oh Austin, you're awake!" Mimi exclaimed, rushing across the room to embrace her son in a hug. "Are you okay, how do you feel?"_

_ "Mom, I'm fine, don't worry," Austin said, laughing at her show of extreme maternal concern._

_ "I brought you some stuff to read later," she said, placing a stack of school textbooks on the side table._

_ "Thanks," Austin replied sarcastically. Two men appeared in the room, ready to take Austin back to the OR._

_ "Looks like they're ready for you," Dr. Brown said._

_ "Can we come with him?" Mimi asked._

_ "Of course, we always allow parents."_

_ "Dez, no hard feeling but we'd prefer if you stayed," Mike told him._

_ "That's okay Mr. Moon," Dez replied._

_ "Bye Dez," Austin said as they began wheeling him out_

_ "Bye Austin, see you later," Dez replied casually, attempting to hold down the sadness welling up inside him. "I hope." He trailed off so that nobody but himself heard the last part._

_The men took Austin to a room down the hall, where two doctors were waiting._

_ "Austin, this is Dr. Jones, he's the reason you still have two legs," Dr. Brown explained, gesturing to the doctor on the right. "And this is Dr. Smith, our anesthesiologist."_

_ "Now Austin, I promise this won't hurt at all unless you make it. Just breathe normally, and this will all be over before you know it," Dr. Smith instructed._

_ "Am I allowed to ask questions?" Austin asked._

_ "Of course, you just did, didn't you?" Dr. Jones joked._

_ "What exactly will happen while I'm out?"_

_ "We're just going to attempt to fix some more of the muscles and nerves, mainly just clean up even more of the mess that the shark left behind. And, if we find anything alarming, we'll need to fix that."_

_ "How would you fix anything?"_

_ "Debridement, antibiotics, in a worst-case scenario, amputation."_

_ "Amputation?!"_

_ "That's the absolute worst- case scenario, it is extremely unlikely to happen," Dr. Jones said in an attempt to reassure the now panicked Austin. But he was too late, the thought of amputation now branded in Austin's mind, not to be shaken away._

_ "Unlikely?"_

_ "Don't worry, it'll be alright. Dr. Smith, get the mask."_

_ "C-can I opt to stay awake?" Austin asked, stuttering in fear._

_ "Sorry, no," Dr. Smith said, holding the mask by his side, "Dr. Jones can't have you screaming in agony while he tries to work."_

_ "B-but what if I don't wake up? Or I w-wake up missing a leg?"_

_ "Relax, you'll be fine," Dr. Brown assured._

_ "Just breathe, this won't hurt unless you make it," Dr. Smith threatened._

_He attempted to place the mask over Austin's face, but was shoved away._

"_We're going to need some help in the OR, we've got a fighter," Dr. Smith said to his walkie-talkie. "I'm going to give you one more chance, or this will get ugly." He again attempted to put the mask on Austin, but to no avail. The boy simply pushed it away again._

"_Son, I'm not going to harm you. The more you struggle, the harder this will be on you."_

_The door opened and three burly men in scrubs entered the room. "Great, backup is here. Jim, Adam, take one shoulder each," Dr. Smith instructed, prompting two of the men to come forward and hold Austin's shoulders flat against the bed._

"_Austin just breathe, you're going to be fine."_

_ "You don't know that! You get paid whether I wake up or not!" Austin yelled, straining against the two men holding him down._

_ "I don't take any pleasure in this," Dr. Smith said, clearly offended at Austin's comment._

_ "You aren't going to die, Dr. Jones is an excellent surgeon," Dr. Brown said. Dr. Smith once again tried to place the mask on Austin, but he thrashed and turned his head away._

_ "I can't bear to see this, it's too painful," Mimi cried, burying her head in Mike's chest and sobbing. _

_ "Shhh, it'll be okay," Mike assured calmly. He stroked his wife's back, remaining surprisingly poised for a man faced with the horror that Mike was currently witnessing._

_ "Weston, hold his head steady," Dr. Smith commanded. The third man walked steadily forward, placing his large hands on either side of Austin's head. Austin continued to thrash, despite the three men attempting to hold him still, but after a good three minutes, he finally ran out of steam, allowing Dr. Smith to firmly place the anesthesia mask over his mouth and nose._

"_Good night Austin," Dr. Smith said, breathless from the battle that had finally ended in a victory for him._

_Austin fought for every second of consciousness, deeply afraid of what he would find (or not find) when, or even if, he woke up. But he felt the energy seeping out of him, and he eventually gave up and let the darkness carry him away._

**Pretty deep, huh? I purposefully kept this out of Sharks & Shocks because I wanted to save it for this story, and it had a pretty decent effect. I know that most of you are probably thinking that Dr. Smith should be fired for some of the things he said to a patient, but that's part of his character, he's horrible at comforting people. Well, I hoped you liked it and please review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Since nobody reviewed chapter 5, I guess I'll just give you chapter 6 without waiting for reviews. If you read the chapter, please take the time to review it! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Austin & Ally**

Chapter 6:

Austin awoke suddenly, his eyes flinging open. He was drenched in sweat from the awfulness of his nightmare. Dez and Trish rushed into the room, having heard something that startled them. Austin reached down to make sure that his calf was still there, and sighed with relief when his hand met flesh. As scarred and mangled as it was, he was glad that he had the privilege of having his own leg still attached to him instead of some metal or plastic one.

"Are you okay Austin? You were screaming in your sleep," Dez said.

"Really? What did I say?" Austin asked.

"Something like: You don't know that! You get paid whether I wake up or not!"

"Who gets paid?" Trish questioned.

"Nobody," Austin answered.

"Did you have, what did Dr. Brown call it, a nightmare flashback?" Dez asked, recalling his phone conversation with Dr. Brown.

"It was just a dream, don't worry about it. I'm fine," Austin assured.

"Something tells me you're not fine. If there's something bothering you, you can talk to Dez and me," Trish said concernedly.

"I told you I'm fine, go back to sleep."

"Dez, I don't think he wants to tell us. Let's just go back to sleep, it's almost one in the morning."

"Good night Austin,' Dez said, turning to leave.

"That's exactly what he said," Austin murmured quietly, but apparently not quietly enough.

"That's what who said?" Dez asked, peeking in through the doorway.

"No one," Austin responded snappishly.

"But you literally just said: that's exactly what he said. Don't deny it, I heard you."

"Nobody said anything."

"Is it the same guy who gets paid?" Trish asked.

"What? Who gets paid?" Austin said, pretending to be clueless.

"You screamed in your sleep about somebody getting paid whether you wake up or not."

"You must be hearing things."

"Austin, if we both heard it, I'm pretty sure you said it."

"I told you, I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

"Okay, good night," Dez said, finally leaving the room. Trish followed, closing the door behind her.

Little did he know, Austin wasn't the only one who was subject to nightmares. As Dez learned that night, the subconscious can play cruel tricks on your mind while you sleep.

Dez's Dream:

_It had been nearly and hour since the doctors had ripped Austin from him for the second time, and Dez thought he would go crazy if something didn't happen soon. Everything had changed in a matter of seconds, but it felt like hours. The heart monitor had sped up, Dr. Brown had panicked, and just like that Austin was gone again, back in the recesses of the hospital where not even his parents were allowed to follow. Mike and Mimi sat, huddled together, on one of the couches in the waiting room, refusing to talk. Dez could feel their pain, for he too was experiencing the terror of the unknown. He wished at least some doctor would tell them what was going on, instead of leaving them to their thoughts._

_Dez's current thoughts were nothing short of depressing. With the only other people in his current situation in a state of catatonic despair, Dez's mind wandered to a place so awful, he couldn't even believe it existed within his own head. He imagined a life without Austin, a life without the only other human who truly respected him for who he was._

_He imagined what it would be like without someone to laugh with, or smile with. Sure, he would still have Ally and Trish, but it wouldn't be the same. They accepted him into the group as Austin's friend, not so much as their own. Without him, Dez would slowly but surely drift away from them, eventually becoming stranded on his own little private island of despair._

_A nurse entered the waiting room, a sullen and depressed look on her face. Finally, an update on the condition of his best friend. She walked over to where Mike and Mimi sat together, and looked down at the floor somberly._

_ "We're so sorry to have to deliver this new. But your son, is gone," the nurse explained sadly. _

_ "What do you mean?" Mimi asked, her eyes welling up with anguished tears._

_ "He lost too much blood, he went into shock. It was too late, there was nothing we could do. Believe me, Dr. Jones tried, he tried so hard, but by the time Austin got into the OR, he was already dead."_

_Mimi buried he head in her husband's shoulder, sobbing her broken heart out. This prompted them to earn hoards of apologetic stares from the other people in the room. Eventually, Mike lost his usual composure as well, holding Mimi back and releasing his sadness in a waterfall of tears. _

_Dez had no one to hold, no one to comfort him, so he buried his head in his hands and allowed the tears to slide down his cheeks. Mike and Mimi still had each other, they would overcome the loss of their son with help from one another, but now, without Austin, Dez had nobody. He had just imagined the horrors of life without Austin, and now Dez would have to live out those horrors. He hoped that his little private island of despair at least had nice beaches._

**So, pretty emotional huh? When I first wrote this chapter, even though I knew it was a dream, I still almost cried. If you bothered to read this chapter, please take the time to review it! I've noticed that my number of reviewers is rapidly declining from my first story to this one.**

**Until next chapter, PLEASE REVIEW **


	7. Chapter 7

**Now, we're back with the Raptors. The first part of this chapter is a bit of a status-update on them and the migration. A few of you have been asking what's happening with them, and this should hopefully satisfy your needs. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Austin & Ally**

Chapter 7:

"How's the fishing going guys?" Kite asked. The other three Raptors were sitting on the beach in front of a large pile of dead fish, lines dangling out in the surf.

"Great, we've got another huge pile for you," Kestrel replied.

"Fantastic! The more chum, the better."

"Why do we need chum again?" Kestrel asked.

"You aren't high enough in the Raptor hierarchy for us to tell you," Buzzard explained, refusing to tell her about the plan.

"Okay."

"I think it's time to call it a night. We've literally been fishing all day, I think it's way past midnight," Osprey said.

"Good thing we stopped for a dinner break earlier, I'm way too tired to even eat right now,' Kestrel said, yawning.

"Well, we have to stay awake, Captain condor said he was bringing the boat late tonight. He'll expect a welcoming party," Osprey said.

At that moment, they saw a medium-sized fishing boat approaching the camp area through the darkness. They saw Captain Condor at the bow with Talon on his shoulder. He docked the boat on a small pier nearby and stepped down. Talon flew from his shoulder to Kite's outstretched arm, gratefully accepting a piece of fish.

"Are you kids ready to leave?" Captain Condor asked. "And I see you've already eliminated some initiates. Our ar- I mean, family can only accept the strongest."

"We're not leaving until tomorrow afternoon, right?" Kite confirmed.

"Tomorrow morning, when sharks are more active," Condor corrected.

"Why do we need the sharks to be active?" Kestrel asked suspiciously.

"Hierarchy!" Buzzard shouted. "Now go do something useful."

"Yes Buzzard," Kestrel said, stalking back to camp.

"Is everything ready?" Captain Condor asked.

"Almost, Captain Condor. We just need to gather more water and set up the desalination device. We also need to load up the boat," Buzzard explained.

"Buzzard, I expect great things from you as my eldest child."

"Yes Captain, you will not be disappointed."

"I'd better not be, because I'm appointing you Lieutenant," Captain Condor said, pulling a bone necklace from his pocket.

"Really?"

"Yes, you've showed me that you're capable."

"Thank you, I won't let you down," Buzzard said, accepting the necklace gratefully.

"I just hope that Major Martial will approve of my choice."

"I hope so too."

"Now, go get some rest, all of you!" Captain Condor commanded, "We have to get up early so we can finish packing up!"

Everyone scrambled into their tents and Condor climbed up into the trees, the whole camp settling down for the night.

~0~

Dez awoke in a panic, screaming Austin's name and eventually bursting into tears. He knew Austin was a very deep sleeper, but Trish was another story. She ran into Dez's room and, seeing the tears streaming down his face, began to worry.

"Dez, what's the matter?" she asked concernedly.

"Horrible dream," he cried between sobs.

"What could possibly be so horrible that it makes you cry like this?"

"A-Austin in sh-shock and d-died," Dez said, calming down a little, but still crying.

"Dez, that's awful. In the morning, you have to confide in him."

"No," Dez stated, suddenly ceasing is weeping. "I won't tell him, it'll make things worse. Trish, you can't say a word to Austin about this."

"Okay, I won't," Trish reluctantly agreed.

"Do you hear that?" Dez asked.

"Hear what?"

"It sounds like screaming, coming from Austin's room."

Trish and Dez's eyes widened in realization and they sprinted out the door and into Austin's room. What they ran in on was a horrible sight. Austin was asleep, but tossing and turning as violently as if her were having a seizure. His face was dripping with sweat, this must have been one heck of a nightmare. The worst part was the screaming, it seemed like he was talking to himself, but based on the things he said, he was talking to someone in his dream

"NO! I can't sleep!" Austin yelled.

"I might not wake up!"

"No! Stop! Why do I have to sleep?!"

"No! You don't know that!"

"Please don't make me sleep! Please!"

"I don't care if it isn't good for me, so is dying!"

"It's my leg, what do you care?!"

"Stop! This is inhumane!"

"No! Weston, let me go!"

"You're a monster, Smith, a monster!"

"No! No!" Please, no!" NOOO!"

All of a sudden, he stopped turning and seemed to calm down. This calmness didn't last long.

"Ally, why are you screaming at me?"

"What was that?!"

"SHARK!" he screamed, his eyes instantly flinging open. He sat up, out of breath, and looked at Trish and Dez standing by his door.

"Well, it's about time you woke up," Dez commented. "you were talking – more like screaming – in your sleep again."

"I was? You're hearing things again," Austin insisted.

"Austin, we all know you were talking in your sleep, don't be ashamed to admit it. We're here to help you," Trish said.

"Thanks guys, but seriously, I'm fine."

"Who's Weston?" Dez asked.

"Who?"

"In your dream, you said something like; Weston let me go!"

"I've never known anybody named Weston in my life."

"Austin, lying won't get you anywhere," Trish said.

"Fine, Weston was part of the team at the hospital that held me down when Dr. Smith tried to put me to sleep," Austin explained.

"There was a team?" Dez said, shocked.

"Yes. Dr. Smith, Jim, Adam, and Weston."

"So it took four people just to get a little mask to your face," Dez stated, clearly not believing the strength of his friend.

"Yes, blind terror is like steroids, it gives you incredible strength. Without the other three guys, Dr. Smith would have fallen asleep from exhaustion before he put me to sleep."

"You called him a monster."

"That's what I thought of him at the time."

"Do you feel better now that you've told us everything?" Trish asked.

"Yes, I do."

"Good, well I'm going back to sleep, it's six o'clock in the morning."

Trish left Austin's room and walked down the hallway into her own room, but sleep was the furthest thing from her mind. She grabbed a piece of paper and a pen from the side table and proceeded to write a letter to the person, whom she hoped, could help Austin.

**If you guys are sick of the emotional stuff by now, don't work, it's over. I didn't want my storied to be entirely action, I wanted to put some emotion and heart into it. The real action and excitement begins next chapter, the voyage to Cuba (or not Cuba) begins tomorrow!**


	8. Chapter 8

**This is where it really begins, the second half of the title (swims) comes slightly into play starting in this chapter. Brace yourselves, from here to the end of the entire series, it's going to be a bumpy ride.**

Chapter 8:

Gator trekked through the woods, carefully examining his surroundings every couple of yards. In his left hand, he held a knife, in his right, a small envelope marked "Kestrel (Ally)" As he arrived at the outskirts of the Raptor camp, he scouted out the tent furthest from the supply pile. He took the knife and speared the corner of the letter. Taking careful aim, he threw the knife across the clearing, allowing it to bury itself in the bark of a tree next to Ally's tent. Before he could be spotted by any Raptors, he quickly ascended a tree to listen in on them.

Kestrel emerged from her tent, yawning from a night's sleep. Buzzard, Osprey, and Kite were already down by the dock preparing the boat. She looked to her left and saw the knife sticking out of the tree, letter pinned against the trunk. She reached over, yanked the knife out of the tree, and pulled the envelope off of the blade. She opened the envelope and removed the letter.

_Dear Ally, or Kestrel, or whatever you call yourself these days,_

_I know you decided to remain at Camp Raptor for whatever reason it was, and I respect your decision and hope you're enjoying your new lifestyle. But I feel that I need to alert you to a current crisis here in the civilized world. I don't really understand why or how this happened, he seemed perfectly fine the weeks after the accident. You might not comprehend the severity of the situation form my telling you, you'd have to witness it yourself. I strongly thing that there is something wrong with Austin involving a horrible fear of sharks. We don't know why it didn't become so serious until now, but Dez and I are really worried about him. This fear has gotten to the point where he flinches at the word shark, and cant' even say it himself. I am very concerned for his sanity and overall health. Dez and I aren't positive , but we have reason to believe he has nightmares, which flow into the real world in the form of sleep-talking. What worries me the most is that he refuses to tell me or Dez what exactly it is that is bothering him. If he won't confide in us, our only hope is that he'll confide in you. You may be his last hope. Please come help, if not for me, do it for Austin. He needs you._

_From, Trish (Shrike)_

"What have I done?" Kestrel asked herself. "Wait, remember why you stayed here. To have a less stressful life. If you go back, expeciall at a time like this, you'll be stressed again. Don't go back to that."

After taking a deep breath, Kestrel grabbed a small barrel of water and walked down the path toward the beach.

"Osprey, are we loading up yet?" she shouted to the young Raptor.

"Yeah, grab whatever you can and take it below deck, in the cabinets!" Osprey yelled back. Kestrel walked up the ramp onto the boat and down the stairs into it. From the other side of the boat, Kite and Buzzard were having a hushed conversation of their own.

"Buzzard, when do we start chumming?" Kite asked.

"It depends, how much do we have?"

"About one hundred gallons."

"Start in about ten minutes, and go slowly."

"Okay. Are you sure we can trust the sharks to eat the chum instead of a person?"

"It won't matter, no one would step foot in the water with the amount of sharks we'll likely attract."

"Remember what Major Martial always says, never underestimate the enemy."

~0~

It had been about half an hour since Trish ahd sent Gator off with that letter, and it was now seven o'clock in the morning. Austin, Trish, and Dez had just sat in the living room in silence since they woke up. Suddenly, there was an urgent knock on the door, and Dez got up to answer it.

"If you want to see your friend ever again, you'll come down to the beach right this second," Gator said quickly.

"Trish! Austin! We have to go to the beach right now!" Dez relayed, prompting his friends to rush in from the living room.

"What's the matter?" Austin asked.

"There's no time to explain now, come with me now!" Gator commanded.

Everyone rushed out the door, down the five flights of stairs, and out the hotel door toward the river. Once in Gator's airboat, he started the engine, and they raced down the river.

"Camp Raptor is going to Cuba!" Gator exclaimed.

"WHAT?!" Austin questioned.

"I was near their camp, and I heard them talking about leaving," Gator explained.

Once the boat arrived at the coast, Austin, Dez, and Trish jumped out and sprinted down the beach, leaving Gator to moor the boat on his own. They saw the Raptors' boat about five hundred yards from shore, headed west. But when they got close enough to the water to see the area between the boat and shore, they were all shocked by what they found.

The water was blood-red with chum, and dozens of fins cut through the water, swimming in all directions. The shark feeding-frenzy was well underway, and the occasional shark head rose out of the water in threat.

"Oh. My. Gosh." Austin stated in shock.

~0~

"Is this why you chummed the water?! To scare my friend half to death?!" Kestrel said to the assembled Raptors.

"Listen, Kestrel, we absolutely love having you as part of our tem, and I'm sure Major Martial will too," Buzzard explained.

"If your friend swam out here and convinced you to come back with him, we'd be devastated," Osprey continued.

"So we chummed the water to attract sharks so that he'd be too scared to come after you," Kite finished.

"It was a genius plan, great job kids," Captain Condor commented.

"You guys really want me around enough to waste a whole day fishing just to keep me here," Kestrel said. "That's so sweet, I've never felt so wanted. Cuba here we come! Wait, if we're going to Cuba, why are we heading west? Cuba is south of here."

"Oh, ask Captain Condor. He's driving," Buzzard said, shaking off the question.

~0~

Back on shore, Austin, Dez, and Trish were still attempting to get over the shock that was the shark-infested water.

"Austin, are you okay?" Trish asked concernedly.

"I'm fine, and I'm going after that boat," Austin stated, beginning to walk toward the water. Dez stopped him by placing a hand firmly on his right shoulder.

"Austin, you'll get killed," Dez said.

"I don't care. I've survived a shark attack before, I can do it again."

"Yeah, that was one shark. Not twenty sharks in water full of shark food."

"Dez, I have to do this."

"I don't want to lose you. I wasn't planning on telling you this, but last night I dreamed that you died of shock. Austin, please don't make that dream a reality."

"I have to take that risk, dying is nothing compared to losing Ally forever. Dez, you have to let me do this."

"Okay," Dez said, releasing him grip on Austin's shoulder. "At least we both have experience in dealing with near-death."

"If this is the last time I'm going to see you," Austin began tentatively, extending his hand for their signature handshake. Dez held out his hand as well, and they did the most emotional "What-up" handshake in the history of hands. Austin jogged toward the water and waded in, and once he was waist deep, he took a deep breath and took off toward the boat.

~0~

"Guys, you have to see this," Kite said, looking back at shore from the stern of the boat. everyone ran toward the edge of the boat, curious to see what Kite was looking at.

"What is it Kite?" Osprey asked.

"Look out there," he said, pointing to the figure of Austin swimming through the chummy water.

"I don't believe my eyes!" Buzzard exclaimed. "The little rodent is swimming though a shark-infested chum slick!"

"That's suicidal!" Osprey added.

Back in the water, one of the fins picked up speed and headed for Austin, on course to smash him in the ribs.

"Austin, it's headed right for you!" Kestrel screamed.

Austin turned at the last possible second before his imminent doom, punching the shark right in the nose. The shark opened its mouth in retaliation, showing all of its deadly-sharp teeth. With the shark gone, Austin continued to swim toward the boat, adrenaline fueling his journey.

"Did that just happen?" Kite asked.

"I think it did," Kestrel said.

Austin arrived at the boat and began treading water/swimming near the boat's base.

"Austin! You realize that you just swam through shark-infested waters and punched a shark!" Kestrel yelled down at him.

"Yes, I realize it," Austin yelled back.

"Why would you do that?! You could have been killed!"

"I did it for you Ally, or Kestrel. Whatever your name is, I couldn't let you leave me forever, could I?"

"Now that I think about it, no you couldn't have. Now that you're back, I realize just how much I missed you."

She turned around to face her shipmates, all with solemn expressions. "I'm sorry guys, but my place isn't here. I belong back in Miami with my friends and family."

"I understand," Osprey said. "It might be nice to live differently for a little bit, but in the long run you belong with your own kind."

Osprey wrapped her arms around her brothers' shoulders and allowed their various assortment of animal friends to sit at her feet. Talon flew over from the other side of the ship alongside Bear, and they both stood by the trio of Raptor people. A large cat the size of a cougar trotted up fro below deck and settled itself down at Buzzard's feet.

"Who's the cat?" Ally asked.

"It's a Florida panther," Buzzard exclaimed, "and her name is Puss."

"Bye guys, I'll visit camp next time I'm in the area."

"Don't bother, we won't be there," Kite said under his breath.

"We'll miss you, Kestrel," Osprey said, embracing Ally in a hug. Buzzard and Kite joined in, creating a four-person group hug.

"I guess I'll swim back to shore with Austin," Ally said, looking over the side of the boat where she last saw her friend. What she saw was more horrifying than anything she'd ever seen before. A large shark was swimming by, pushing a motionless Austin out to deeper seas with its snout.

**Cliffhanger! I'll bet you didn't expect that, or maybe you did, but it doesn't matter. I'll give a shout-out to anybody who can find the Sharks & Shocks line in this chapter, I purposefully repeated it. I apologize for switching perspectives so much in this chapter, but there was so much going on that I had to. Until next chapter, please read and review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**The cliffhanger I left you guys will finally be resolved in the second-to-last chapter of Selachophobia & Swims! It's more like the last chapter, because the last chapter is more like a teaser for the next story after this. (The name of that story will finally be revealed in the ending author's note of chapter ten.**

**By the way, shout-out to R5-BTR-LilSis15 for correctly identifying the repeated line from Sharks & Shocks, "Austin, it's headed right for you!" I put that in this story as a sort of symbol, for dramatic effect. Anyway, on with that chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Austin & Ally**

Chapter 9

"Austin!" Ally exclaimed. "Oh no, we should have let him on the boat sooner so he'd be safe!"

Just then, Austin grabbed the shark by the snout and pulled himself back so that he was parallel with the shark.

"Just kidding! This shark just likes to play!" Austin said, holding its dorsal fin with one hand, and rubbing its top jaw with the other.

"I hate you so much right now! Don't make me regret coming back with you!" Ally yelled.

"Sorry, but you do realize you'll have to swim, right?"

"That's when it's handy to have such an awesome tour guide!" Gator said excitedly, riding a small motorboat over alongside the later fishing boat.

"Gator!" Austin exclaimed.

"Boy, Jimmy is a-gonna kill me for lettin' you do this," Gator said.

"Ally, are you coming?" Austin asked.

"I don't know, it's a big drop," Ally responded nervously.

"And it's for situations like this that our ancestors invented the ladder," Kite said, carrying a vine ladder over to the edge of the boat. He threw the ladder over the edge and allowed Ally to climb down safely into the waiting boat. Austin arrived near the boat, holding onto the dorsal fin of that same shark. He released the shark and climbed into the boat.

"Bye Leucas!" Austin said, waving to the departing shark.

"You named the shark Lucas," Ally said skeptically.

"Yes, but Leucas spelled L-E-U-C-A-S," Austin explained.

"Why would you spell it like that?"

"It's part of the binomial name for bull shark."

"I thought you hated sharks."

"I did, until I met Leucas. He's actually relaly friendly."

"Wait, where did you learn the binomial name for bull shark?"

"You learn a thing or two when a couple of doctors are talking to you in your hospital room and you either have to listen or read physics textbooks."

"What?"

"It's a long story."

As the boat reached shore, Dez and Trish ran over to hug Austin and Ally.

"Austin, you're alive! And you punched a shark!" Dez exclaimed, pulling his friend into a bear hug.

"Ally, you came back to us!" Trish yelled, also hugging the person she spoke to.

"Austin Monica Moon!" an authoritative voice said from further up the beach. The group released each other from their hugs and turned to see none other than Jimmy Star walking towards them.

"Jimmy, what are you doing here?" Austin asked.

"Well, I was coming to pay Gator for protecting you, but now my priorities have shifted to scolding you," Jimmy explained. "What were you thinking?! You nearly got yourself killed, again!"

"I've never been killed before, what do you mean again?" Austin asked.

"Austin, the key word in that sentence was nearly."

"Why do you care so much about my reckless choices?"

"Reckless is an understatement, what you just did was nothing short of suicidal."

"Sorry Jimmy, I just couldn't imagine a life without Ally. I'll be more careful in the future."

"You'd better be, I don't want another scare like the previous shark incident."

"That was pretty scary. Not just for you."

"Honestly, I was just as scared when you pretended to be dead out there," Dez said, laughing.

"Did I scare you to death?"

"Don't joke like that," Dez commanded, immediately ceasing his laughter.

"Sorry."

"Personally, I think we should head back to the hotel," Trish suggested.

"And Dez, when we get home, you're showing me that shark trivia book," Austin said.

"Yeah, the front cover of that book kinda got ripped off," Dez said sheepishly.

"Dez, I just punched a shark in the face. I can handle a book without a cover."

"Austin, you said shark without freaking out!" Dez said excitedly.

"I did, didn't I!" Austin exclaimed.

"Well, it looks like you answered my note just by being here," Trish said to Ally, out of earshot of the boys.

"Trish, I don't think my presence has any effect on him," Ally replied.

"If you hadn't been on that boat, Austin wouldn't have dipped a toe in that water, much less swim through it and play with a shark. He played with a shark, Ally, yesterday he couldn't even say the word shark."

"That's so weird, at the Welcome Back Austin concert, he was perfectly comfortable. But he was still afraid on the airboat when Gator talked about bull sharks in fresh water."

"Yeah, but he calmed down the second you talked to him. Once you stayed at Raptor, he just got progressively worse."

"Really?"

"Ally, you don't have the comparison that we do. The difference between the Ally-deficient Austin and the Ally-sufficient Austin is like night and day. He's more confident when he's with you."

"Just don't tell him that, he'll freak out."

"You don't have to tell me twice. I've seen him freak out before, it's awful."

"What's awful?" Austin asked from in front of them, turning around to face them and walking backwards.

"Ummm, the number of shark that are killed by humans," Ally said quickly, not wanting to hint at her and Trish's previous conversation.

"I know, right? For every fatal shark attack on humans, millions of sharks are killed," Austin said, still walking backwards.

"Doesn't that mean that you indirectly caused the death of millions of sharks?" Trish asked.

"No. If I did, you couldn't tell me that I did. Well, you could, but I wouldn't be able to hear you."

"Why not?"

"Because he'd be dead Trish," Dez said, turning around t walk backwards as well. "That's what fatal means."

"What happened to all the sensitivity when discussing my near-death?" Austin questioned.

"Well, as we walked, I was thinking. After watching you dive into water with tons of sharks in it, I shouldn't be sensitive. If you're no longer afraid, then I'm no longer sensitive."

"Sweet."

"Just don't fake your own death like you did with Leucas."

"Deal."

"Ally, I have to ask. Why did you stay with the Raptors?" Trish asked.

"Well, when Austin came to rescue us, I thought about everything that had happened to us in the past year. I guess all the stress from the post-shark drama and stuff, I decided to try to get away from everything that caused me stress," Ally explained.

"So, you just didn't like dealing with normal life, so you thought you'd live like an animal," Dez summed up.

"Pretty much."

"Ally, is that a hawk?" Trish asked, pointing to the silhouette of a large bird soaring above their heads.

"I think so. Wait, that's Talon!" Ally exclaimed, recognizing the Raptors' favorite hawk.

"Who?" Austin questioned.

"Kite's hawk," Ally explained.

"What's he carrying?" Dez asked.

"It looks like a bag," Ally inferred.

"What's in it?" Austin asked.

"I don't know," Ally said.

Talon landed in front of the group and dropped the bag. Ally picked it up and removed a sharp object and a note.

"What's this Talon?" Ally asked the hawk. Talon held up a foot, which was missing one of its talons, and cawed as if answering the question.

"It's yours?"

Talon nodded his streamlined head in response, and Ally picked up the note and unfolded it.

"What does it say?" Austin asked.

"I'll tell you," Ally replied as she began to read the note.

_Kestrel,_

_Talon lost this in a skirmish with Bear five years ago. We kept it for the right person, and we decided to give it to you so you could remember us, and one-up your friend Austin in the animal jewelry contest. Please give Talon a treat for delivering this._

_-Buzzard, Osprey, and Kite_

"What did they mean, one-up me?" Austin questioned.

"Check around your neck," Trish instructed.

"Oh, this animal jewelry," Austin said, holding his shark tooth necklace.

"They didn't include a string or a hook, so I'll have to wait until we get home to make it into a necklace," Ally explained.

"What are we going to give Talon as a treat?" Austin questioned, as Talon turned his head toward him with a hungry look in his eyes. "Follow-up question: why is he looking at me like he wants to eat me?"

"I think I can answer both question, Chum Boy," Ally laughed.

"Chum Boy?"

"Austin, you're covered in a bunch of fish guts," Ally explained, picking a sliver of fish off of his shoulder. She handed the piece of meat to Talon, who greedily devoured it. "Good boy Talon. Go tell Osprey, Buzzard, and Kite that I appreciate the gift." Talon flew off over the water back to the boat.

"Can we get back to the hotel?" Austin asked. "I want to get rid of all this chum."

"Of course, I want to get rid of all the chum too. You smell like fish," ally said. She picked up the bag and placed the talon back inside. The group walked back to the airboat, happy to be together as one group again.

**So, that's about it for that half of the storyline. The last chapter is entirely Raptors, and their reaction. Trust me, you'll want to read that chapter, it sets the scene for the next story in this four-part series. It will leave you with many, many questions and hopefully encourage you to read the last story. Until next chapter, please read and review!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Here it is: the final chapter of Selachophobia & Swims. This is basically just a teaser for the next story in the series, as I explained last chapter. Warning: you will have many, many questions after reading this. Hopefully, they will be answered in the next story. If you have a question that may not be answered in the next story, feel free to just ask it in a review or PM me. This chapter is a bit short, but there's a lot packed in it. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Austin & Ally, just the Raptors!**

Chapter 10:

Back on the Raptors' boat, Kite was at the prow, driving the boat towards their destination. Captain Condor sat on the floor at the stern, stroking Puss. Buzzard and Osprey sat near him, all with angry scowls on their faces.

"You kids are fantastic at quick thinking, and you really plan ahead," Captain Condor commented. "You saw that she was leaving, knew we'd need to get her back someday, and lulled them all into a false sense of security so that we can surprise them with a sneak attack. The talon was a nice touch by the way."

"Thanks Captain Condor, do you think that the rest of the Raptors would help us get her back?" Osprey asked.

"Once they hear how that girl dishonored us, all eight brigades will be chomping at the bit to get revenge," Condor spat angrily.

"I hope Gearworks will help us," Kite yelled from the prow. "We haven't worked with Lanner, Lesser, and Lagger in a long time."

"Why would you want to? It's just confusing. Why did Eleonora and Falco name them with such similar names?!" Osprey complained.

"They're easy to tell apart if you just get to know them," Buzzard said.

"Besides Osprey," Kite said. "They're more Raptor than we will ever be. They were born and raised on the Isle of Rapere."

"Whatever, they haven't lived Raptor style as long as we have, we were ages seven, eight, and nine when they were born," Osprey said. "And we joined the Raptor program when I was six, I've been at it for twelve years. They've been at it for ten. And their maturity level doesn't help."

"Don't be mean to them, they've committed their lives to the Raptor mission," Condor scolded.

"Yes, Captain."

"Now, if we get Gearworks to help, how do we get Kestrel back?" Buzzard asked.

"She really cares about that Austin guy, we need to use that to out advantage," Osprey said.

"Do you think that Lanner, Lesser, and Lagger have learned any new kidnapping styles from Captain Nankeen and Lieutenant Seychelles yet?"

**I know, I know, I've thrown a whole lot at you in those four hundred words or so, but please bear with me. All of these characters will be revealed in the next story, and you guys finally get to learn the title of it! The title of the fourth and final installment of Tor Raptor's Austin & Ally series will be titled: Raptors & Revenge!**

**You see, I didn't want to spoil the fact that they'd be coming back later, so I kept the title a secret until now. I hope to see all of you who reviewed this story reviewing the next one! Raptors & Revenge is the story I'm most proud of out of all four, so I hope you guys like it! It will be another Drama & Adventure story, like Disappearances & Dread. This story will also have a three-chapter alternate ending entitled: Austin's Star, but more on that at the end of Raptors & Revenge. Lanner, Lesser, Lagger, Captain Nankeen, Eleonora, Falco, and Lieutenant Seychelles are all characters in that upcoming story, but more on them when they're introduced. There is a poll up on my profile about who you think Lanner, Lesser, and Lagger are, please go check that out!**

**Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed Selachophobia & Swims! Please look for my next story, Raptors & Revenge, I hope to see y'all there!**


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